- Joined
- Dec 26, 2006
- Messages
- 593
I just discovered that the baby spider ball python I got back in October suddenly died sometime in the last couple of days. I have no idea how it happened.
He had trouble eating and would never strike at the frozen/thawed mice on his own, but I was able to successfully assist-feed him a few times by sticking the mouse head in his mouth and letting him do the rest.
When I bought him from a supplier at the local reptile expo they waited until after I paid for him to tell me that they were having problems getting him to eat.
He did the "stargazing" behavior that's characteristic of spider balls, but now I'm freaking out because it might have been IBD all along.
I'm really worried that if it was a contagious virus, it could have spread to the rest of my collection. I'm careful with quarantine, but you can never be too sure if it's airborne - unfortunately that's hard to avoid considering I live in a tiny dorm room.
I doubt that the supplier (D&K Reptile Sales) will give me any kind of refund or credit - if they did, I wouldn't want to buy a reptile from them again. A friend of mine bought her fat-tail gecko from them a year ago and it had pinworms - which of course they neglected to test for and fix or to warn her about.
I also buy the frozen mice that I feed my snakes from D&K - but I doubt those could have caused this.
I know nothing about diagnosing any cause of death with the body - all I can see is that he shrunk in size and is very small and skinny. Its body was laying on the floor of the tank, slightly curled, next to the heat pad, in a normal belly-down position. From a distance he looked to be okay. I just noticed a faint stench in the past few hours which caused me to take a closer look. His death just seems so sudden - I could hear him actively moving around at night for the past few days like he always has. But the last time I tried to feed him, which was 1/9, I tried to assist-feed him again but that time he regurgitated it when the back half of the mouse was still sticking out of his mouth, and he tried to swallow it a second time but regurgitated it again. That was the only time he regurgitated in my care.
It's too late at night right now to do any huge cleanup. I threw away the body, took out the tank decor, and sprayed the tank down with diluted bleach, and I'll get cracking on a bigger sterilizing project tomorrow.
I just wish I knew what caused it. I wonder if I should contact D&K and complain - the fact that they waited until AFTER I bought him to tell me he had an eating problem is unsettling.
This really struck me hard, because this is my first reptile death. I'd wanted a ball python for as long as I can remember. I had to wait years to finally get one because my mom is scared of snakes and would never tolerate my having a snake in her house. I was so excited to finally have my dream pet. And now I'm too afraid to get another one. I'm terrified that my other reptiles might catch the same thing that killed my python... I'm so devastated.
RIP Lestat.
He had trouble eating and would never strike at the frozen/thawed mice on his own, but I was able to successfully assist-feed him a few times by sticking the mouse head in his mouth and letting him do the rest.
When I bought him from a supplier at the local reptile expo they waited until after I paid for him to tell me that they were having problems getting him to eat.
He did the "stargazing" behavior that's characteristic of spider balls, but now I'm freaking out because it might have been IBD all along.
I'm really worried that if it was a contagious virus, it could have spread to the rest of my collection. I'm careful with quarantine, but you can never be too sure if it's airborne - unfortunately that's hard to avoid considering I live in a tiny dorm room.
I doubt that the supplier (D&K Reptile Sales) will give me any kind of refund or credit - if they did, I wouldn't want to buy a reptile from them again. A friend of mine bought her fat-tail gecko from them a year ago and it had pinworms - which of course they neglected to test for and fix or to warn her about.
I also buy the frozen mice that I feed my snakes from D&K - but I doubt those could have caused this.
I know nothing about diagnosing any cause of death with the body - all I can see is that he shrunk in size and is very small and skinny. Its body was laying on the floor of the tank, slightly curled, next to the heat pad, in a normal belly-down position. From a distance he looked to be okay. I just noticed a faint stench in the past few hours which caused me to take a closer look. His death just seems so sudden - I could hear him actively moving around at night for the past few days like he always has. But the last time I tried to feed him, which was 1/9, I tried to assist-feed him again but that time he regurgitated it when the back half of the mouse was still sticking out of his mouth, and he tried to swallow it a second time but regurgitated it again. That was the only time he regurgitated in my care.
It's too late at night right now to do any huge cleanup. I threw away the body, took out the tank decor, and sprayed the tank down with diluted bleach, and I'll get cracking on a bigger sterilizing project tomorrow.
I just wish I knew what caused it. I wonder if I should contact D&K and complain - the fact that they waited until AFTER I bought him to tell me he had an eating problem is unsettling.
This really struck me hard, because this is my first reptile death. I'd wanted a ball python for as long as I can remember. I had to wait years to finally get one because my mom is scared of snakes and would never tolerate my having a snake in her house. I was so excited to finally have my dream pet. And now I'm too afraid to get another one. I'm terrified that my other reptiles might catch the same thing that killed my python... I'm so devastated.
RIP Lestat.
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